While games involving tethered balls have been known in the past, the tethering has ordinarily been undertaken for the purpose of securing the balls to some inanimate objects to prevent their escape during practice or play. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,589,726, 3,398,955, and 3,351,343. In some instances the cords have been non-stretchable in their entirety, while in other cases they have been formed of elastic material but, in any event, the primary purpose of the cords or tethers has been to limit travel of the balls so that they may be easily retrieved and repositioned for further practice strokes with suitable clubs, rackets, bats, or the like. In addition, baseballs or other practice balls have been joined by elastic straps to the wrists of users so that the balls after being thrown are returned by the straps towards the users' hands to improve coordination and catching skills. See U.S. Pat. No. 667,563. Other types of devices have been known as, for example, paddles to which balls have been connected by elastic bands, and basket-like receptacles to which balls or other objects have been connected by cords; in most such devices, the elastic cords have performed the function of redirecting the balls towards the impact surfaces or receiving elements.
The present invention is concerned with an amusement device which similarly involves a ball which is equipped with a tether. Unlike prior devices, however, the tether is formed of sections having different physical characteristics with the principal length of the tether being formed of a substantially non-stretchable cord and a relatively short section of the cord near the ball being formed of highly elastic material. The cord is equipped at its free end with a clamp, the clamp being attachable to the cord at any point along its intermediate section to form a loop intended to be extended about the neck of the user. By adjusting the size of the loop the length of the tether may be varied so that the ball is suspended from the player's neck, such ball being disposed at substantially the same elevation as the player's feet or, in some cases, his knees. Kicking of the ball causes it to swing outwardly and forwardly in pendulum fashion with the pivot point of the pendulum being at the player's neck. The short elastic band, interposed along the length of the tether adjacent the ball, serves as a shock absorber without producing any appreciable recoil action that might interfere with proper pendulum movement of the ball. Impact shock is also reduced by utilizing a lightweight ball, preferably one which is inflatable.
Although the tether extends about the player's neck, danger is avoided because of the self-releasing nature of the clamp, should a force of considerable magnitude be exerted upon the cord or ball, and because the clamp resists sliding movement along the length of the cord. Hence, there is virtually no possibility of sliding movement of the clamp that might cause a tightening of the cord about the player's neck when the device is properly used. In one form of the invention, stop means, preferably in the form of a knot, is provided to serve as a positive limit against any sliding movement of the clamp which might, under some circumstances which would not be expected to arise during proper use of the toy, result in longitudinal movement of the jaws of the clamp along the length of the cord.
Other structural features, advantages, and objects of the invention will become apparent from the specification and drawings.